Ocelot Brewing Company

It wasn’t a bad place. Plenty of space and games to offer its patrons. Big negative is that you have to walk through the corn hole game when you come in so heads up. Terrible placement of this feature.
The beers aren’t bad but they aren’t jaw dropping either. There were plenty on tap and we tried a bunch of them. Not out of this world but not horrid like some other breweries in the area. I may go back another time but it’s nothing that I can’t get in a bottle from total wine.

5 Stars for the beer. I love IPAs and they have a great selection. They are consistently very good. I’ve also tried a few other types here and they have been quite good also.
5 Stars for the staff. They are always friendly and helpful even when it’s crazy-​busy.
5 Stars for the food truck. (I think it’s Big Franks). Really good food!!!
1 Star for the space. Unfortunately, the large space has been taken over by families with small children that run wild. More than one of the large tables was taken over by families that had their own full spread of food, stuff for the kids, etc. One of the times we were there, there was even a child’s birthday party! It’s a brewery, not Romper Room!

Went there on a late Saturday afternoon. Place was packed; at least 4 birthday parties underway. Toddlers everywhere. Seating was very limited so we ended up standing for two hours. I mean, I can see having a birthday party for/​with your kids at a brewery, but really — the place was a daycare with beer. The beer was well made, but none of our group thought the beer was that remarkable. The IPAs were largely 7%+ ABV which for my taste overshoots the sweet spot. The food truck Big Frank’s BBQ was heavy on the meat and the heat, but there were no sides. Just meat. Nah, not going back here. Too many other good places. Old Ox still my favorite.

Great Atmosphere but that’s secondary to the stellar assortment of beers available. Constantly creating new micro beer! Fresh & delicious selections. Haven’t been disappointed with anything here. A must visit!

Here’s a hint: if there’s a beer style you **THINK** you don’t like, tell the staff. They will take it as a personal challenge and find something in that category you’ll enjoy.
Such was my experience with my Eric, my beer-​educator (and one of the owners). Server is too bland a term; after explaining my dislike of IPAs, he had me sample an assortment of beers until I found a double IPA that — much to my surprise — I really liked. Eric explained its the bitterness that I dislike, not hops per see, so the key was to find an IPA with a low IBU rating — something Ocelot has achieved via various brewing methods. So there you have it — I came for a drink and left with a beer lesson!
Ocelot serves 2 ounce samples for $ 3, pints, and of course growlers. The beer menu is impressive and ever changing. They had 16 (!) beers on tap when I arrived, which is far more than most other breweries, with a really nice assortment of wheat beers, IPAs, saisons, and stouts. I especially enjoyed the wheat and raspberry beers, although the «See The Light» double IPA and «From The Top» IPL (an IPA made with a lager yeast) were good too.
As venues go, this one is better than most. It’s set in an industrial area, so a GPS might have trouble finding them. But the inside was well done. Ocelot also has periodic food trucks and have delivery menus on hand. They also have a thing for rock music; in fact all the beers are named after songs. If you have an idea for a name, feel free to drop it into their suggestion box.
I’m convinced Ocelot’s real function is to serve as a massive chemistry lab for the owner’s personal beer experimentation, and we patrons are merely their way to pay the bills. Eric wholeheartedly agreed with that assessment. Hat tip to you Eric — that’s a heck of a way to do business!

The best part of Ocelot was the atmosphere. It’s a large space, with great music in the background, communal tables, and a nice mix of young couples with kids (we brought 3 and 8 year olds with Happy Meals in tow), yuppies, and the more established crowd. Best selection of board games — and many tables were actually playing — at any craft brewery in NOVA.
We sampled a half dozen beers. Both saisons were impressive in taste, but it was a head scratcher that the Crimson Tears wasn’t red or particularly fruity. The IPAs we tried were equally good — I think we did three different styles. It was nice to have the hop profiles on the menu to compare. Nice touch. On the beer, the only downside was the peach sour ale. We like sours, and it was neither particularly peachy nor particularly tart. It did have more taste when it came up toward room temp. It leaves me more hopeful than disappointed. It’s a good base to work from.
One other minor gripe, and I’m sure this will get hammered out. When I went to order a flight, I was told that they could only give me two sample sized beers per trip because they were running low on glassware. Please buy some more glassware so that I can spend my money at your shop. (On the plus-​side, their glassware is really nice. Tulip sample sizes are a cut above the rest.)
We took home a growler of Weird Creatures saison. It is still pleasing as I type. We’ll definitely return. We take the kids to 1 – 2 local breweries every weekend, and I would put this one in my top 3 in NOVA. It could go up.

A great fun place for beer and hanging out. The brewery is bare bones look but very fun place to hang out. They have a good variety of beer so even if you aren’t a big beer fan you can probably find something you like… I did!
The BBQ Food truck Big Frank’s Food Truck, who you can get food from here is to die for BBQ. and get the liquid cheetos. You won’t be sorry.
And the music is great too.
And the best part is that the brewery is dog friendly. A great time.

This is truly a hidden gem. All craft brews which are rotated out every few weeks to give a truly unique experience during each visit. They specialize in IPAs and also have nitro brews.
The staff and owners are passionate and extremely helpful. The prices are also reasonable. I think I just found my new favorite local brewery.

This place is a hidden gem — arguably the best new brewery in the country, not the county, the country!
The quality and variety of brews are spectacular and constantly changing. Huge wide open space — family friendly — feel free to bring your own food /​snacks /​games and chill for a spell. They have darts, corn hole, a sweet acoustic guitar on the wall you can pick up and rock out on, and a variety of musical talent filling the air on most weekends. Bottom line, stop by and say hi, the Ocelot family will take great care of you and make you feel at home.

We stopped here with some friends recently and inside the place is pretty minimalistic; bar to the left, few tables, brewery in the back. Unfortunately, and very unfortunately, I didn’t drink the day I was there (DD) so I can’t comment on how the beer tastes. However, staff was very friendly and they kindly gave us a tour of all the action behind the scenes and in the back. If you’re one to support local, I definitely recommend supporting this local LoCo brewery.

Nice atmosphere. Nice music. Food truck out back. Fancy menu — good thing there’s a printed list since the menu board is too fluffy to read with all of it’s crazy fonts.
They don’t rush you out at closing. Friendly staff. Nice visual for the sampler tray.

Like music? Then their beer names will have you guessing what band that beer came from. Such a home town feel, that keeps you coming back. You like IPAs? They will have one for you from thief east to west coast styles. Their staple beer is my only friend which is a Russian imperial that’s full of coffee and chocolate will want you coming back for more. Fun cask beers and now nitro coffee to give you a nice pick me up. Honestly one of my favorite local brews and they have something new every time I come by, so worth the visit! Come and relax and try naming a beer!

Great new brewery. All the beer was good with a taste for everyone. They specialize in IPAs it seems and it shows because they really shine there. Their tasting room is just as good as the beer with LOTS of space, for hole and games for the kids, and it truly is in their brewing space so gives a great vibe. That, and they are DOG FRIENDLY so bring the pooch along.
They don’t serve food, but a food truck is common in the weekend, or you can bring your own.

When you walk in it’s basically a giant open warehouse with stone accents that are a great touch. Long wooden tables open to anyone, beer is obviously on tap and their own… no full bar though, so you really need to like beer to enjoy it. Unfortunately I’m very picky about beer and didn’t like any of them due to the strong flavors and extreme hoppy-​ness, but most of our friends liked a couple of them.
The food truck was great, albeit pretty slow to get around to paying. We tried everything on the menu the day we came and loved everything, the quesadillas were amazing and the wings that weren’t on the menu were so good my husband ordered another to take home with us. The liquid cheetos (super cheesy cornbread grits) were very tasty as well. I didn’t get to try the burger because the friends inhaled theirs before thinking about letting someone else try it so it’s safe to say they were amazing (I have some very picky meat lover friends).
What I found rather appalling was that the place was FILLED WITH KIDS. IT’S A BREWERY PEOPLE!!! Those poor children were bored out of their minds with the exception of cornhole. There is literally nothing that is kid friendly there… in fact, a woman walked up to the food truck and asked what was kid friendly on the menu. When Frank told her the menu wasn’t kid oriented she was very offended and said «how could there be no kids options?!» and Frank responded with the incredibly obvious «this is a BREWERY ma’am». The woman was effectively shut down and stalked off. I mean really, what are you thinking bringing kids to a brewery? And I don’t mean just the slightly older kids, I mean people had babies in actual carriages and were rocking them to sleep while they drank. I saw two men knocking back beer after beer with a little girl in between them looking like she’d rather die than be where she was now. Are people really that selfish? I mean I know it’s hard to go out with kids and all that, but we all found it wildly inappropriate and thought the brewery should keep it 21 and over strictly. I can’t understand the logic for the life of me.

Great beer and Frank’s BBQ is amazing! I love IPA’s and sours and each time I’ve been, they’ve had at least two, if not three IPA’s and a sour on tap. I really wish I lived closer.
Only gave three stars because one: the place did not have growlers in stock. I mean, really — a new brewery runs out of growlers? I hope it was due to crazy demand. About $ 50 stayed in my pocket… there’s tons of keg shells lying around, I would have taken one of those! two: the female bartender is not friendly at all. She was attentive but did not smile nor offer assistance in selection of ever changing choices — she does NOT make you feel welcome. Looking at reviews, seems I am not the only one to feel this way. And three: the web presence needs some help. It would have been nice to know what’s on tap, what band is playing, or that you are out of growlers so I don’t drive 45 min from DC to leave with nothing!
Also for you the customer, be aware of what’s on nitro. It would have been nice for the bartender to let me know what I ordered was also on nitro and if I would prefer to have it that way (I would have!), but I didn’t.
I will give the place another shot but if there’s another fail, I’ll take my cash to one of the other many breweries in the area.
I really did like the beer and am disappointed I couldn’t take any home. Personally, I would have been more apologetic and offered a discount (like free glass) to come back and get some!
In the future it would be optimal to know what’s available online, get great service, feel welcomed, and be able to leave with some beer!
If you like beer, definitely try this place (assuming they get growlers and you get a different bartender). Now I am thirsty.

Great atmosphere. Open, airy, spacious. Great beers. Loved (in order) Orange Bittercat (American Wheat Ale 5.0%), Waves of Joy (Saison 7.7%), California Stars (IPA 6.8%), and My Only Friend (Russian Imperial Stout 9.1%). Owners Eric and Adrian gave us a great informative tour. Nice guys!

Stopped in here on a late Monday afternoon for an Ale tasting. Was only a couple of other customers on hand when I arrived.
I love IPAs, so I was excited to see how many there were to choose from! I chose them all!:
California Stars IPA (8.1% ABV)
Wonders of Nature Sour Ale (6.6% ABV)
Dogs of Doom DIPA (8.1% ABV)
Our Elaborate Plans IPA (7.0% ABV)
Still Upside Down Pale Ale (6.0% ABV)
Elementary Penguin IPA (6.8% ABV)
Mountain of Dreams DIPA (8.8% ABV)
I enjoyed all of their IPAs, as well as the Sour Ale and the Pale Ale! All the IPAs were full of character, hoppy, and delicious!
I met Shawn (one of the brewers) and Melissa, who was working the bar pouring Ales. Really nice folks!
Can’t wait to come back and drag some of my friends along next time!

Wow wow delicious wow! Met Mike (I think) McCarthy tonight for a quick tour. As a home brewer I greatly appreciated the extra attention Mike gave me… And a most genuine experience if I say so.
The beer, delicious! I’m a west coast style IPA guy and I was very impressed. The Ways of Joy saison, awesome; the Elaborate IPA, get out of here; the My Only Friend Stout, shut the front door!
I want to nest here! Thanks Mike for the genuinely awesome time you afforded me and I look forward to the sour!

This place is great. Only three beers on tap right now, but they only opened a few weeks ago. The staff is fantastic and super friendly. There is amble seating and large tables for larger groups. My favorite part is that they are dog friendly (kid friendly too, if that’s your thing).
They offer one or two beers on nitro at any given time. I’m excited for their sour beer!

There’s a new micro-​brew in Ashburn and it tastes promising!
Located in a industrial park (2^nd Right turn after you pass the strip-​mall with an Arbys) off of Loudoun County Parkway, Ocelot’s home provides ample space to begin an adventure in brewing. Looks can be deceiving because as soon as your enter one of the two typical glass pane doors, it opens up to a huge concrete space made comforting with a natural wood bar and large slabs of wood that act as tables atop barrels. It’s clean, it’s modern, its industrial, you feel like you are apart of the brewing floor even though it is nestled in the back guarded by another wooded bar where one can sit and observe if the brew-​master, Adrian happens to be making magic happen.
Since they officially opened less than a week ago, they only have 3 beer varietals on tap with two of them on nitro. They are set-​up to offer way-​more than that and I am excited to see what else they have in store. What’s nice is they offer flights which enable one to sample before purchasing a pint. I believe they also do growler fills. If I heard correctly, the plan is to add a beer each week to the line-​up as they go along… sounds like they are going to have a banging rotation so you won’t ever get bored with the same’ol, same’ol. :P
No food available in-​house, but that’s alright because when you’re hungry there are a plethora of businesses waiting to delivery and even better… a food truck outside! Not just one food truck all the time, but they are hoping to create partnerships with many and rotate those too! How awesome is that, finally food trucks are making their way out to the suburbs, you can count on me stopping in whenever a new one appears. :)
Beer, food trucks, and board games, what else does one need when you want to stay local but also want to get out? Ocelot Brewing Company. :D